Draft-equalizer



,lhvirnn STATES K PATENT Darren.

L. T. NICHOLS, OF OLAREMOXT, MINNESOTA.

DRAFT-EQUALIZER.

SEBCIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 339,007, dated March30, 1886.

Application filed January 30, 1886. Serial No. 190,369. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, L. T. NICHOLS, a citizen of the United States,residing at Glaremont, in the county of Dodge and State of Minnesota,havoinvented certain new and use f ul Improvements in Draft-Equalizers,of which the following is a specification, reference being had thereinto the accompanying draw- 111g.

The drawing shows this device in a top plan vlew.

This invention belongs to that class of devices known asdraft-equalizers, and more especially that species in said class calledfour-horse evcners.

The novelty consists in the construction and combination of the severalparts, all as will now be more fully set forth and explained.

In the drawing, A denotes the tongue or pole, and B the harvester orother device to which it is attached. The two-horse doubletree 0 is notpivoted to the tongue, but plays free. To this double-tree at the centeris at tached one end of the chain D. This chain D passes back around thepulley E, which plays between the double strap 0, which double strap ispivoted to the short end of the long lever F, and thence said chain D isbrought back to a point, a, on the tongue A, where its end is securelyfastened. The long lever F is pivoted atf to the tongue, so that justone-third of its length is inside-that is, to the left of the tongue orpoleas shown in the drawing, and two-thirds outsidethat is, to the rightof the pole or tongue-as in drawing. At or near the long end of thislever F, in any of the holes is pivoted one end of theforwardly-projecting double dlZLW'SlDIdPS between the other ends ofwhich is pivoted the double-tree G. This construction and combinationforms a very perfect four-horse equalizer. The team that pulls acrossthe tongue by being attached to double-tree C, which is attached to thechain D, which passes around the pulley and is fastened to the tongue,has a double power upon the short end of lever F; hence the short end ofthis lever Fonly has to be one-half of the length of the long end toequal the draft-power of the other team, which is attached to the longend of lever F, which is just twice the length of the short end, and

thus it not only allows both teams the same draft-power, but also thesame distance to playthat is, if one team pulls ahead six inches it willcause the other team to pass back the same distance, and vice versa. Byusing a pulley which doubles the draft-power upon the short end of thelever F, it is the same in effect as though one team was on the insideof the tongue and one team on the outside of the tongue, hitched'one onone end of lever F and the other on the other end equal distances fromwhere it is pivoted to the tongue.

At any convenient point on the long end of the lever F is attached oneend of the chain H, the other end of said chain being attached to theoutside of the harvester or other device to which the evener isconnected. This chain has proper slack, so that when it is necessary toturn the teams around theinside team can be held back and the outsideteam made to pull the harvester or other device around. Thus the insideteam has only to keep their place and there will be no strain on themfrom the neck-yoke, which in eveners of other construction causesserious harm to the necks of animals.

In order to prevent the inside double-tree from swinging in toward thegrain, a small chain, I, is attached near the end of doubletree 0, andthe other end of said chain is attached to the tongue a little forwardof where double-tree 0 plays over the tongue when both teams are pullingeven.

By using a false tongue this evener can be readily attached to awalking-plow, and thus in breaking up new ground one horse will walk inthe furrow and the other three will walk out upon the smooth unbrokenland, and by having a false piece of a tongue to reach from the clevisof the plow beyond the point on the tongue where the chain D isfastened, this evener can be used on a sulky-plow with the same results.Thus this equalizer can be readily adapted to either a harvester, awalkingplow, or a sulky-plow.

-I-Iaving now described my invention, what I consider new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In combination with a four-horse evener consisting of the double-treeG, the chain D, running round a pulley on the inner and short i thedouble-tree C and the tongue, the pulley E, bar ]3, pivoted to thetongue, as described, the doubletree G, connected with the end of thelonger arm of F, and the chain H, all as and for the purposes set forth.

4. In a draft-equalizer, a double-tree connected to the tongue by meansof a chain extending nearly to its inside end and allowing the horses 20to be attached one on each side of the pole and centered on a chainattachment extending to a lever near the inner end of the pole,substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature 25 in presence of twowitnesses.

L. T. NICHOLS.

Vitnesses:

G. E. WESTINGHOUSE, H. E. SKEELs.

